A change of scenery might’ve been all Auburn baseball’s ace pitcher needed.

Southside, Alabama, native Sam Dutton spent the first three years of his college career at LSU, a place where he won a national championship, but had an up-and-down time individually.

At times he was the Sunday starter. Other times he came out of the bullpen. He never became a consistent starter or go-to guy out of the bullpen, though, and he entered the transfer portal after posting a 5.86 ERA in 27.2 innings at LSU in 2024.

That gave a storybook feel to Friday night’s game, as Dutton shutout his former squad for six innings, helping Auburn take claim an 8-4 win over No. 3 LSU in Game 1 of the series.

“It was awesome,” Dutton told reporters after the game. “A great experience.”

A performance like Friday’s is nothing new for Dutton this season. He’s now thrown 13 scoreless innings in a row, pitching seven shutout innings while allowing just two hits in a 10-0 win over Alabama last week.

On top of throwing six shutout innings, Dutton struck out seven batters and only walked two. Friday was also his fourth shutout of the season, pitching at least five and two thirds innings in each of those games.

Not only did LSU have a lineup Dutton was somewhat familiar with, it’s one of the deepest and most dangerous lineups in the country. Eight of the Tigers’ nine starters came in with a batting average over .300, and the one who didn’t entered Friday’s game batting .297.

“It’s a lot like having Tommy Vail from two years ago,” Auburn outfielder Ike Irish said of Dutton, comparing him to Auburn’s ace from two years ago. “You just play your best baseball when he’s up there.”

Given Dutton’s college experience, head coach Butch Thompson wasn’t worried about him handling the occasion of facing his old team.

“I think he’s pretty consistent and knows how to respect the opponent‚” Thompson said prior to Sunday’s game.

For Dutton, he downplayed the idea of Friday’s game meaning anything extra to him. He put an emphasis on “keeping the main thing the main thing” and executing like he has done in many games this season.

He was asked if he had this game circled on his calendar or if it was simply business as usual, but he agreed on the latter.

Thompson agreed that Dutton didn’t seem any different in Friday’s game than any other outing he’s had this season, something he attributed to the senior’s maturity.

“I thought I saw the same outing tonight of his better outings. I didn’t see a difference,” Thompson said. “I just really saw him getting to his pitches and mixing and trusting his stuff.”

The win was a big one for Auburn, as it now has a chance to win the series against LSU with a victory in Saturday’s game. First pitch for Game 2 is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Plainsman Park and will be streaming on SEC Network+.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m